Yeah telling Isidro that he's the 100 man slayer. Though Im sure Isidro will make a connection down the road.

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Actually, as Aaz pointed out with Casca, it was Guts misunderstanding of Griffith that took us down this road.

Yeah I get that. What I meant was Guts was privy to all Griffith's secrets and " dark ploys" such as the assassinations where the rest of the band didnt know this side of Griffith. I guess I phrased it badly. My bad, happens often.

Am I understanding this correctly? The forest of spiritual trees aren't actually trees, it's just a phrase that describes the various seals that syphon the World Spiral Tree's power, and these seals are related to the land (the area around and including the tree house mansion?). So the apostles weren't just after Flora, but her "tree" as well (which was assumed based on the info from the previous episode).

No, the trees are there, and they're the "seals". And the apostles were indeed after Flora's tree, as we had assumed. Also, it's just a guess, but I think that part about "symbolic representations" may refer to the Ideal World. However please keep in mind that a degree of uncertainty remains because this is retranslated from a language other than Japanese. We'll know for sure once we have the original text.

I wonder if restoring the forests of spirit trees will be the endgame to toppling Griffith, God Hand, and ioE.

Probably not the endgame, no. The God Hand and the Idea of Evil existed fine while those seals were in place. It may be necessary in order to restore the world to a less chaotic place, but I'm not sure it's within the scope of the story to show us that whole process. Either way, something else will be needed to take care of Griffith and his ilk. Something like the Dragon Slayer.

amazing episode. so in the past, the world was indeed in a similar state to how it is right now, wow. the hype for the elf king keeps increasing, saying he's hard to deal with makes it even more intriguing. these guru's are probably just as powerful as ged, if the island does get attacked i expect greatness from them. magic users are the ones who kept the world at bay and kept humans safe, now they're frowned upon by many, thank you holy see. and it appears that the next episode comes out next month as well?

Thanks a ton Aaz and Puella! Lot's of deep stuff to digest here. It seems like the World Tree was always a thing and that the spiritual trees were just keeping it contained and the astral world at bay. Witches like Flora were guardians, who also harnassed the strange properties of it into magic, like some type of nature magic based Scientists. Pretty cool actually, and it explains why magic users are so rare; they apparently can only be found near these trees, because the trees influence their power and knowledge of magic.

I'm not totally clear on 'The road of Elves' vs 'The Road of dragons' but what I gather is that the astral world naturally has some small overlaps from time to time, and this explains the reare sightings of elves and other astral creatures, especially in a nature areas like the woods (basically explaining superstition in this world). The road of Dragons is contained at all times by the Tree, but the Beherit can open a gate to it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if both the roads are related or go to a similar place, does this have implications on whether the God Hand and IOE, and nature magic and astral creatures like trolls might be related after all through this World Tree? This is a bit unclear to me.

I love the idea that Falconia is in the eye of a storm created by the World Tree. A very cool concept indeed.

I wonder if a character could use the world tree to take a direct road to the vortex of souls and confront the Idea of Evil. It sounds like an unnecessarily big move to me, but perhaps if they could do something to it (even just distract it, say by a group of powerful magic users), the God hand might be at a disadvantage or less powerful.

Lots of cools stuff here. Lots of possibilities. I'm sure we'll learn more as we go.

Thanks so much Aazealh and Puella for the summary. This episode was incredible. It brought some answers, but also even more questions. Now i wonder, if this "road of dragons" really connects the physical world with the depths of the astral world, even with the vortex of souls, maybe if every forest of spiritual trees is destroyed the vortex itself will be brought in the physical world, or at least very near This idea may sound a bit ridicolous, so i take it with a grain of salt, but by direct logic that's what should happen.

Also Ged mentioned that the Beherit can open the road of dragons. Maybe that's the same "road" Griffith descended in vol 13 when he perceived the deaths of his comrades and he reached the Abyss.

Griffith and Aaz, you are both probably right in regards to your reply to my comment. I think it would be cool if the party split up with various members in charge of somehow restoring the forests... but real world time is an enemy. It would extend the story a lot.

When considering how such a task could even be completed, I wonder if the elves have a way for humans to travel the elf road branch... skip a boat ride back and all.

So the ancient chaos when the real world and the astral world are mixed together is going to come back

It seems the merging of the worlds has happened before, Gaeserics conquest wasn't as cut and dried as it looked, he may have followed a similar route to Griffith, with Void as his accomplice in world domination

it explains why magic users are so rare; they apparently can only be found near these trees, because the trees influence their power and knowledge of magic.

No, no, magic users have become more rare in general. They're not naturally limited and obligated to stay near the trees, it's a choice some make. They become guardians and dedicate their research to those trees' power.

I'm not totally clear on 'The road of Elves' vs 'The Road of dragons' but what I gather is that the astral world naturally has some small overlaps from time to time, and this explains the reare sightings of elves and other astral creatures, especially in a nature areas like the woods (basically explaining superstition in this world).

Yes, this is essentially correct. In rare instances, like during full moons, that small road allows humans to venture in shallow parts of the Astral World.

The road of Dragons is contained at all times by the Tree, but the Beherit can open a gate to it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if both the roads are related or go to a similar place, does this have implications on whether the God Hand and IOE, and nature magic and astral creatures like trolls might be related after all through this World Tree? This is a bit unclear to me.

Well the beherit can open a gate to the Abyss. It opens "the road of dragons", basically. Keep in mind this is all metaphorical. Both roads lead to the Astral World, but not to the same parts of it. As a reminder, the Astral World is layered, it has various depths and it changes drastically depending on how deep you go in it. Flora and Schierke explain this in volume 24. So very different territories (like the Qliphoth or Flora's domain) are found in very different layers, and the same goes for the kind of creatures that inhabit it. The road of elves is benign, but the road of dragons is very dangerous. The easiest example to understand is that elves and trolls are astral creatures, just like the Lady of the Depths and the Lord of the Rotting Roots. But they're not at all alike, neither in power nor in essence. The same goes for the God Hand, whose members are former humans who have become pure spiritual beings. They all exist in the Astral World, but in very different places. And the God Hand and the Idea of Evil aren't related to elemental magic.

I wonder if a character could use the world tree to take a direct road to the vortex of souls and confront the Idea of Evil. It sounds like an unnecessarily big move to me, but perhaps if they could do something to it (even just distract it, say by a group of powerful magic users), the God hand might be at a disadvantage or less powerful.

It's possible in theory, although you'd have to be sure you could keep existing at that depth, which isn't guaranteed. Like you said, I also think it's an unnecessarily big move when just facing a member of the God Hand is already a massive undertaking in and of itself. Finally, the Idea of Evil exists on such a different level that I'm not sure what one would do if they were to come to It.

Now i wonder, if this "road of dragons" really connects the physical world with the depths of the astral world, even with the vortex of souls, maybe if every forest of spiritual trees is destroyed the vortex itself will be brought in the physical world, or at least very near

An important question right now is how the World Spiral Tree is tied to the Abyss. Because Ganishka went down to the Abyss when he became Shiva, and the many faces and confusion he displayed afterward seemed to imply that he had tapped into the Vortex of Souls. We don't have the answer yet, but it's something to look out for. That being said, I don't think the Vortex of Souls will just appear near Falconia and swallow everyone or something that crude. But maybe all those who die will be unescapably absorbed by it through the World Spiral Tree.

Also Ged mentioned that the Beherit can open the road of dragons. Maybe that's the same "road" Griffith descended in vol 13 when he perceived the deaths of his comrades and he reached the Abyss.

Keep in mind those "roads" are metaphors and refer to phenomenons we were already aware of. Like a candidate for apostlehood being brought to the God Hand's lair.As for Griffith when he became Femto, I'm not quite sure, given that he went down to where the Idea of Evil resides.

Griffith and Aaz, you are both probably right in regards to your reply to my comment. I think it would be cool if the party split up with various members in charge of somehow restoring the forests... but real world time is an enemy. It would extend the story a lot.

I think finding another way to get the World Tree to disappear would be more simple than just restoring the forests, which would presumably take hundreds of years.

It seems the merging of the worlds has happened before, Gaeserics conquest wasn't as cut and dried as it looked, he may have followed a similar route to Griffith, with Void as his accomplice in world domination

As I've said before, I think Griffith's life may well have been modeled after Gaiseric's. Except Gaiseric achieved his goal as a man, since he did not become a member of the God Hand and instead suffered a fate similar to that of Guts. This is nothing new to be honest.

It seems the merging of the worlds has happened before, Gaeserics conquest wasn't as cut and dried as it looked, he may have followed a similar route to Griffith, with Void as his accomplice in world domination

Griffith and Aaz, you are both probably right in regards to your reply to my comment. I think it would be cool if the party split up with various members in charge of somehow restoring the forests... but real world time is an enemy. It would extend the story a lot.

When considering how such a task could even be completed, I wonder if the elves have a way for humans to travel the elf road branch... skip a boat ride back and all.

It's really not a bad thought, that's what scares me; the idea of the story being indefinitely prolonged by the gang becoming tree-ghostbusters.

I'm not totally clear on 'The road of Elves' vs 'The Road of dragons' but what I gather is that the astral world naturally has some small overlaps from time to time, and this explains the reare sightings of elves and other astral creatures, especially in a nature areas like the woods (basically explaining superstition in this world). The road of Dragons is contained at all times by the Tree, but the Beherit can open a gate to it. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if both the roads are related or go to a similar place, does this have implications on whether the God Hand and IOE, and nature magic and astral creatures like trolls might be related after all through this World Tree? This is a bit unclear to me.

I don't think it's clear to anybody yet, even if one perfectly comprehends the second hand text. Plus, there's probably a lot more to be learned about it. I don't think they go to the same place(s) though. Perhaps the difference between the Road of Elves and Road of Dragons is like a friendly neighborhood street and the Autobahn. =)

It seems the merging of the worlds has happened before, Gaeserics conquest wasn't as cut and dried as it looked, he may have followed a similar route to Griffith, with Void as his accomplice in world domination

I would be surprised if Griffith's situation wasn't wholly unique save for their parallels as conquerors. Plus, it sounds more like it was the other way around and world essentially unmerged from some form of merged state, which raises a number of questions like who or what caused it and why. Did the IoE/GH always want the world this way and it was unmerged to spoil/delay their plans for it, or did they cause all this alleged unmerging and remerging to remake the old world but under their control? The trees/seals, along with magic users like Flora, protecting the world as it was and keeping it separated seems to suggest the former, but it could just as well been the last resort.

Actually, as Aaz pointed out with Casca, it was Guts misunderstanding of Griffith that took us down this road.

Not trying to sway off topic, but wasn't Griffith's inability to co-op with the fact that his (best) friend wanted to find his own desteny/path and he had problem accepting that reality/fact? So instead of putting his egocentric self and weird sense of possession behind and keeping focus on his goal, he let his guard down and that is what lead us down this road (he himself, not Guts choice)? Also, I get that the point of mentioning this is the different kind of understanding Guts and Casca had about Griffith at that time, not trying to be p(r)icky and out of context.

Yep! Very curious to hear about some ancient history now. Hope the old folks will be in the mood for tale-telling.

Myabe the Elf King will share more info about that, as there is a chance he himself witnessed it (maybe the guru's did so themself, who knows).

It made impression to me how Danan is keeping her eyes shut all the time, some of the gurus do the same. Myabe they open them only on special occasions like Gedflynn earlier, not sure if there is more to it.Also I think some of the guru's might have a relative connection to the Cucca's friends and she herself is related to Molda/Morda (sisters?) as they share a familiar sibling characteristics.

Do you think guys it is plausible we see a confrontation with some of the God Hand on the island (I know right, just a hunch)?

It made impression to me how Danan is keeping her eyes shut all the time, some of the gurus do the same. Myabe they open them only on special occasions like Gedflynn earlier, not sure if there is more to it.

I wouldn't care too much if I were you. It's a stylistic thing, a trait of character. Same thing with Serpico for example.

Not trying to sway off topic, but wasn't Griffith's inability to co-op with the fact that his (best) friend wanted to find his own desteny/path and he had problem accepting that reality/fact? So instead of putting his egocentric self and weird sense of possession behind and keeping focus on his goal, he let his guard down and that is what lead us down this road (he himself, not Guts choice)? Also, I get that the point of mentioning this is the different kind of understanding Guts and Casca had about Griffith at that time, not trying to be p(r)icky and out of context.

Are you accusing me of victim blaming Guts for what happened? Anyway, it was just a manner of speaking.

I've speculated about a possible appearance from one of them before. Who knows?

I'd love to read it if you have a direction link , thanks. Also have to say you are probably single handedly the most informative and interesting person I've ever red commenting and talking about Berserk. Just to throw (some praise ) it out there, I'm sure you hear that often, but I'm new here and I think it's ok to say it (I've been reading the forum for a quite some time and appreciate all the people's thoughts and views).

I love how this series answer questions while adding a lot of new refreshing questions and expanding more its great lore. Awesome episode, like always.

Regarding the "roads" and the World Tree, it's interesting to note that not all the forests have been destroyed. Maybe when that happens the "chaos" Ged talks about is the aforementioned Age of Darkness (if we don't consider that the world in its current state is actually that). And maybe and only maybe, the remaining seals are the final key for the complete release of the God Hand upon the world, if they don't walk the earth yet. Thinking of it, our missing and beloved immortal could be doing a little job

In retrospect I wonder what role had Skull Knight in all of this. Can we assume he was trying to protect the seals? Why did he hide Femto's intentions from Guts and Schierke?

I imagine we'll be getting monthly, or close to monthly releases for awhile. After all, volume 39 was already indicated as coming in 2017. So we need, what, at least nine episodes for that to come to fruition?

We got several big answers in this episode, understood thanks to Puella and Aazealh's work. My reply is super late, but it's honestly the first chance I've had to collect my thoughts on this massive episode and the implications of it. I'll just be highlighting some of the bigger developments and offering my thoughts on them.

One of the largest pieces of news was the explanation of the connection between the spiritual trees and the world spiral tree, hinted at in the previous episode. The trees were siphoning power from the world tree. But with them removed, it shines brilliantly throughout all worlds. But it goes deeper than that:

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"And by protecting the land, they prevent the balance of the real world and astral world from tipping. They think it's their duty. They tell her that her teacher was also one of those magicians. "

This explains a lot that might not be immediately obvious. First, this was Flora's role on the continent, apart from her brethren. Whether she had another reason for leaving the island is unknown, but watching over the tree was her duty. Second, this establishes that the spiritual trees' usage as a defense against the world tree's power had to be nurtured and cared for actively, implying that THAT is the process of "sealing" mentioned by Ged in the last episode, negating my theory that such trees and thus seals, had existed since the beginning of time. Leading us to another revelation:

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"So the ancient chaos when the real world and the astral world are mixed together is going to come back."

This is huge. It confirms that the ancient world WAS like the current world: A mixture of the astral and physical worlds. You may have heard Aaz and I debate this over the years. We were always on the fence about this. Well, now we know! But, were such seals erected over the last 1,000 years, or prior to that? Unknown. But given the scope of the change in the world being described, this could be our first nugget of Berserk history that predates the crumbling of Gaiseric's empire.

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"The small one is called "the road of elves" and it's connected to shallow ponds in the astral world. Sometimes that causes a child to get lost in the forest."

Reminds me of so-called "Fairy Roads/Paths" in British and Irish folklore. Paths in countrysides that connected the human and fairy realms.

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"He revived a giant ancient city at the foot of the world tree. While the world is becoming chaotic, ironically only the base of the giant tree stands out like a typhoon's eye. It has become a land that repel evil spirits, thanks to the gentle spiritual power that land is full of. So now it has indeed become a normal country where humans can live peaceful lives".

This shouldn't surprise anyone, but it does confirm in detail what we had assessed several years ago about the power of the world spiral tree, and how it was manipulated to benefit Griffith's aims.

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Ged reflects: "To take a country, or more precisely to establish his own country. The whole world himself... It's helpless. Though he doesn't care about the means to reach his goal." Guts says that it's a bit different, it's the other way around. "To Griffith, the goal is about the means. And then says that "he hasn't changed at all. To acquire his country is just a passing point. He's the Falcon who flies as far as he can go, towards the highest possible goal. This is the Falcon, Griffith."

Surprise! Griffith isn't going to settle for a country! Most of us have known that Griffith's ambitions were always larger, and that the pursuit of his kingdom was the tallest order he could dream of as a man. But it's very nice to see Guts saying it in such a dramatic fashion. And of course, we get the (not so) dramatic reveal to his companions about his significant former friend. This scene also sets up Guts' value to the Gurus, and really to all the inhabitants of the island: His special connection with Griffith, who has become the de facto leader of the evil order that's literally tearing the world apart.

Will this discussion spill over into 346, where Guts expounds a bit more to his companions about the state of Casca, Griffith, himself, and his journey? Here's hoping. The timing makes sense now more than it ever has.

It seems like the World Tree was always a thing and that the spiritual trees were just keeping it contained and the astral world at bay. Witches like Flora were guardians, who also harnassed the strange properties of it into magic, like some type of nature magic based Scientists. Pretty cool actually, and it explains why magic users are so rare; they apparently can only be found near these trees, because the trees influence their power and knowledge of magic.

Your comment as well as the description of the guardian witches and magic users carrying research in the forests of spirit tree (that seem to have a parasitic relationship with the World Tree branches) reminded me a bit of Odin's episode to seek the knowledge and powers of the magical runes at the branches of Yggdrasil. The resemblance is more on an aesthetic-conceptual level (the purposes and of course the ordeal of the tale being quite different), but I find it interesting enough to be worth mentioning.

Also regarding that point, I was re-reading some parts of Volume 24 in the last few days after reading episode 344, and with the assumption (now confirmed) that Flora was one such guardian of one of those forests of spiritual trees, it striked me how she felt responsible for the ongoing events at that point (appearance of trolls into the corporeal world): case in point, even before addressing Guts party, she made sure to prioritise Morgan's story. She couldn't fix the issue by herself, so she had to delegate the task to Schierke as her student and even making a bargain with Guts (in exchange for the talismans) for them to help her. Given her illustrated role in this episode, I found that very consistent and interesting to put in perspective.

The other element in this episode that gave me a Norse mythos vibe, even though I might be reaching a bit more with this one, is the naming used to addresss this sort of phenomenom: "road of dragons" going by the summary. Surely it's looking more metaphorical than anything right now, but given some of the story connections being made with the World Tree and the vortex and/or abyss, and having in mind the parallel with Yggdrasil, the World Tree of nordic mythology, I can't help but remind of the dragon-serpent that lives gnawing at the bottom of its roots, Nidhogg. I'm sure this isn't particularly new either, but as it's a new (and very curious) term from this episode and given the vibes I was getting, I found it too interesting to leave unmentioned.

Relating to these new described phenomenoms in this episode, "road of dragons" and "road of elves", I'm reminded of another episode I happened to have covered in my selective re-read: episode 177 - "The Rent World" going by DH's edition. We see a situation that seems much similar, if not the phenomenom itself being illustrated when the kids notice how the forest they were so familiar with started to look or feel different/strange as of late. Although the scene didn't involve a night of moonlight (there seemed to still have broad daylight in the scene, covered by large dark clouds), I assume the corresponding trigger to its occurrence was Griffith/Femto's appearance and how that also affected the world, as he actually happened to just pass/fly by the kids in the forest at the back of Zodd. Actually that there was broad daylight to be seen probably reinforces the point of how much his coming to the corporeal world affected the balance. Later in that scene, we see what seems to be an elf folk in the tree opening, much like it's illustrated in this episode.

As for other impressions, I think it's nice and interesting to see what seems to be (or at least so far portrayed as) a young adult in Danan at the place, it's something I saw people thought about in the previous episode thread since all we saw were mostly kids in the island so far. And I love the way Morda has been just laying there in the sidelines, relaxed and just listening to all this important discussion with her face half covered by her hat. Looks pretty badass and reminds me a bit of the demeanor of young Guts in a way (mercenary/Band of the Falcon Guts, just feels like something he would do).

Well, right now I just can't wait to get a good read of a reliable translation for this episode. Reading these nice bits concerning the world building and letting them sink in, have my take on it and see how else they expand what else we know.